Palestinian Authority Traitors Serving Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas‘ duplicitous treachery exposes him as an enemy, not ally, of his people. An earlier article on him quoted Jeffrey Blankfort calling him a “double agent (serving) his Israeli and US masters in plain sight.” In June 2003, Edward Said called him “Israel’s sheriff,” saying he’s “colorless, moderately corrupt, and without any clear ideas of his own, except that he wants to please the white man,” his Washington and bosses.

two Palestinian activists murdered “in a wide-scale military operation” against a Hebron neighborhood, including shelling residential homes lawlessly; in addition, dozens of Palestinians harassed, three apartments destroyed, four homes damaged, a store demolished, two others damaged, a car destroyed, and 12 Palestinians arrested;

a Silwan village Palestinian child wounded “when IOF fired at children” demonstrating peacefully against the detention of four others;

several nonviolent West Bank demonstrations against settlement and Separation Wall construction targeted, wounding one child and affecting dozens of civilians and human rights activists from tear gas inhalation or “sustained bruises;” in addition, three Palestinians and four human rights workers arrested;

four Gazans, including two children, wounded in a failed assassination attempt;

Israeli gunboats fired on Palestinian fisherman in two separate incidents;

27 West Bank incursions (lawless by any standard) resulted in 33 Palestinian civilian arrests, including nine children and an old man – guilty only of being Palestinians on land Israel wants to steal; and

In addition, for over 40 months, Israel has denied visitation rights to families of over 700 Gazan detainees, hardening their incarceration for them and their loved ones.

In the West Bank, complicit PA forces aid Israeli lawlessness, serving as an occupation enforcer. For weeks, its security forces have suppressed public dissent, dispersed peaceful protests, and arrested hundreds of West Bank Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters, including public figures, subjecting them to torture and other abuse, ill treatment, and humiliation. Others were publicly beaten, including civil leaders, academics, doctors, other professionals, and ordinary people struggling for their rights.

PCHR condemned what it calls PA “campaigns of arbitrary arrests,” in violation of international and Palestinian law. Besides hundreds made earlier, dozens more were carried out and many others have been summoned. For many, it means arrest on sight.

Information gotten from Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Hamas-affiliated members shows at least 230 Hebron residents detained, 130 by the Preventive Security Service (PSS), the others by the General Intelligence Service (GIS).

In Bethlehem, PSS detained 25 Palestinians, GIS 15 others. In Nablus, 77 more in Jnaid Prison. In Ramallah and al-Bireh, 45. Detainees include “released prisoners from Israeli jails and relatives of PLC members.” In addition, dozens of Palestinians were arrested just days after being released. In detention, most were denied family visits and access to legal counsel.

Worse still are reports of torture and abusive treatment, released detainees saying they were “held under inappropriate, and even severe and inhuman, detention conditions,” those with chronic illnesses or injuries most affected. In addition, many were tortured and subjected to other forms of abuse, at least several requiring hospitalization.

One released detainee said he “hear(d) voices of detainees crying in pain as a result of being beaten and tortured.” During interrogation, he was forced to listen to get him to cooperate. He also saw prisoners beaten and subjected to prolonged ‘shabeh,’ the painful position abuse with hands and legs bound tightly to a small chair, compounded by sleep deprivation.

Detainee families said arrests and homes searched were carried out provocatively, in at least one case with no one there, but on return, a father and four sons were arrested. Others in their family are also being held.

A released detainee said he and many others were taken to a Taffouh village police station and held under inhuman conditions. In addition, dozens of Islamic Jihad members and supporters were summoned, forced to supply detailed information, then sign an oath “not to violate the Palestinian law, not to oppose the PNA’s public policy, and not to engage in any activity of Islamic Jihad.” Others were summarily arrested, detained and tortured.

Outraged, on October 6, Hamas responded, saying it will retaliate if arrests and abuse continue. At a Gaza news conference, spokesman Abu Ubaida said:

“We say today that our silence will not last long. If (PA security forces) pursue their aggression, we will end the silence” and respond.

Hamas was angered that one of its members, Alaa Abu Dhiyab, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and that PA forces arrested hundreds of its supporters, and keep seizing more. Its leaders also oppose direct peace talks, saying holding them abandons “the national rights of the Palestinian people” because Israel demands unconditional capitulation, not justice, equity, real peace, and a viable Palestinian state. In addition, they accuse Abbas of selling out, serving Israel, not his own people.

Earlier on September 29, Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan Mousa was detained, his wife, Randa, saying a GIS force raided his workplace in Qabatya village near Jenin and arrested him. On October 2, she learned that he was accused of joining illegal militias, and he went on hunger strike after arrest. He was also subjected to shabeh, other abuse, and had his eyeglasses taken.

On October 3, the Al Dameer Association for Human Rights called for his immediate release, saying his arrest and others were arbitrary and political. It asked the PA to “take real and effective measures in order to stop such illegal acts and completely end political arrests” and persecution.

“Al Dameer stresses that arrests are regulated by the Palestinian law and fall under the jurisdiction of the law enforcement officers, including the civil police, who are directly supervised by the Attorney General.”

By law, arrests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members and supporters, including Mousa, are illegal acts, constituting political persecution. On October 5, PCHR joined in, calling for “the immediate release of all (PA) political detainees, including Mousa, expressing “condemnation” for them all.

According to Hamas, 1,008 party members were arrested in September alone. On October 14, a party spokesman said:

“It’s clear that the arrest campaign being waged by the Palestinian Authority did not exclude anyone and did take into consideration the circumstances and titles of the people being arrested, whether they were former detainees from Israeli jails, university professors, teachers, or members of city councils and other categories.”

Arab League Summit Smoke without Fire

At the October Arab League summit in Sirte, Libya, Hamas and other Palestinian factions urged further supportive action, including opposition to direct peace talks with Israel, knowing their futility. However, according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, not enough was done “to support the Palestinian position in confronting the occupation. The Arabs must adopt a unified strategy that backs the armed Palestinian resistance and backs the Palestinians’ steadfastness of their land.”

Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haneya, added more, saying, “Israeli aggressions, blockade, and the Judaization of Jerusalem require clear and crucial decisions.” PFLP representatives said decisions so far taken are “not enough and (go) on in a vicious circle. The Arabs’ weak position would encourage Israel to keep carrying out practices against our people and lands.” Islamic Jihad leader, Khaled al-Batch, made similar comments, saying Arab states abandoned the Palestinian cause.

Concluding their meeting on October 12, the Extraordinary Arab Summit made four policy decisions for joint Arab actions, none focusing on Palestine, showing the above comments are accurate.

“Underneath everything is hatred – hatred and contempt for Arabs….This is what is behind the right wing’s nationalist laws and its so-called (no-peace) ‘peace.’ ” It reflects “dark and dangerous instincts,” throughout Israel’s leadership and Knesset members. “(A)ll of them are Arab haters, whether openly or not.” Most never “met an Arab, but they know everything about them. Not one of them has even begun to think of Arabs as being equal to Jews,” let alone as human beings deserving basic rights and freedoms.

Repressive force only is their language – no agenda, no vision, only “pathological….amoral” violence begetting more, reflecting hard line revisionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s belief that peaceful coexistence was unattainable, so Jews had to build “an iron wall of (superior) Jewish military force.”

Since Ben-Gurion, Israeli leaders espoused it, choosing violence over conciliation; confrontation, not diplomacy; collective punishment, not coexistence; and racial hatred over core Judaic dogma – Talmudic/Torah teachings much different from radical Zionism, what many Jews call heresy for being racist and advocating separation, military power, and brute force. Also for claiming Jewish supremacy, specialness, and uniqueness, while being extremist, undemocratic, and hateful, ideas harmful to Jews and non-Jews alike.

Levy understands, concluding his article saying “The damage the right wing is inflicting upon us will linger for many years after it leaves office.” Overall, longstanding hatred is too deeply rooted. What passes for Israeli leadership leads nowhere, and “the garbage it is spreading in the meantime is piling up higher and higher.” Sooner or later it’ll topple, perhaps taking Israel and its PA allies with it.

* Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon.